Vietnam's industrial zones discharge around 240,000 cubic meters of untreated industrial sewage into the environment every day, according to government reports.

News website Thoi Bao Kinh Te Saigon (Saigon Times) has cited a new report from the Ministry of Industry and Trade as saying that only 42 out of the country’s 639 industrial zones have a wastewater treatment facility.

The ministry said the central government has not provided cities and provinces with the money they need to build and maintain waste treatment plants at industrial zones.

An average of VND72.5 billion (US$3.4 million) was granted between 2011 and 2014, the ministry reported.

The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources said in a recently released report that at least 240,000 cubic meters of raw industrial waste water is discharged directly into the environment throughout the country every day.